How Star Wars took over my life

I used to like Star Wars quite a lot. As a young-ish urban childless New Media professional, basic Star Wars knowledge was mandatory. We all spoke fondly of the original films, and bitched about the betrayal of the prequels.

Now my family has surrounded me in Star Wars again, and I am thoroughly sick of it. I trip over Lightsabers left in the hallway. I step on dismembered Lego Star Wars figures. I try to block out the sound of my boy humming the Star Wars theme song.

However, with some effort, I can think of a few positive things about Star Wars:

The kids use The Force to attack each other when they’re playing Star Wars, rather than traditional hitting, kicking etc. Non-contact violence.

Like all good space operas, the Star Wars films have interesting storylines for the kids to re-enact and interpret. The plot is just as important to them as the spaceships and weapons. The gadgets and technology are part of the Star Wars world, but not the main focus.

I understand why Jar Jar Binks exists. To little kids, he is a comic genius.

Princess Leia sometimes gets involved in the fighting, so my daughter can join in the battles. (We pretend that Princess Leia has a Lightsaber too …)

My Star Wars home

Here is some photographic evidence of the Star Wars-enhanced home I live in.

I found this in the bathroom one morning. A simple tribute to the Lightsaber by my boy…

Princess Leia trapped in sticky tape

Han Solo may have been encased in Carbonite, but see what happens to poor Princess Leia in our house. I spent ages looking everywhere for this damn figure, then my daughter told me that “The princess was stuck-ed”.

Dad’s Star Wars Lego – do not touch!

My husband keeps his ‘vintage’ Star Wars Lego safe on top of our bookshelf. When little kids come over, they stand there wide-eyed looking up at it. I feel a bit silly saying: “No, you can’t play with that, it’s special Lego for adults.”

Lightsaber storage disaster

The Lightsabers are stuffed in behind a door, amongst umbrellas and bits of a vacuum cleaner. When will Ikea come up with a Lightsaber storage solution?

Brought to you by the Interweb – Star Wars as an educational tool

I’m not too sure about this – Lucas Learning was set up by George Lucas to provide “technology-based instructional materials
that make learning challenging, engaging and fun.” Hmmmm – shameless merchandising, anyone?

3 responses to “How Star Wars took over my life”

I don’t know how I came to your blog but the laugh was much needed.
My fondest memory of two boys was the first StarWars film in the first 5 minutes when the enormous battle cruiser came into view, their mouths dropped open and I don’t think they closed them until the credits. I am speaking of the original film. The house then became a production line of leggo space craft and I am grateful that light sabres were not available waaaay back then.